When I think SciFi, Octavia Butler is always at the top of my list. Fledging was the last novel she wrote before she passed away and it was by far the best Vampire fiction I have come across. As with much of her writing, Bulter manages to bring a realism to her fiction. Her characters are gritty, flawed and nuanced gingerly picking their way through the minefields of the situations they find themselves in. The story begins with Shori, who appears to be a 10 or 11 year old black girl, but is really a 53 year old Ina, part of an ancient race that most would call Vampire. Shori awakens in the wilderness, severely injured with no memory of who she is or how she got there. On instinct she kills the first animal she comes across and then gathers enough strength to stumble out onto to road where she is picked up by a local construction worker. He becomes the first in her web of symbiotic relationships with humans who are both food and family.
From there begins a unique tale of inter-species relationships overlaid with Ina politics. Even the Ina are not immune to color predjudice, but for different reasons. Shori's brown skin is a genetic modification that makes her able to be a day walker which raises complications between her and the white Ina she encounters. This was one of those books you can't put down. My only complaint is that Butler passed away before continuing what would have been an amazing series.
Reagan Jackson is a writer, artist, YA fiction aficionado, afro-punk, international educator, and community organizer based in Seattle, WA. You can find her most Tuesdays at the Seattle Poetry Slam or maybe just being nerdy at her favorite bookstores.
Reagan Jackson is a writer, artist, YA fiction aficionado, afro-punk, international educator, and community organizer based in Seattle, WA. You can find her most Tuesdays at the Seattle Poetry Slam or maybe just being nerdy at her favorite bookstores.
